« Nothing at all like this happens in our house | Main | Your Money & Your Brain »
How many books should you start?
So few other people sample books en masse, yet the practice strikes me as trivially correct. If I buy a book the odds that I finish it are reasonably high, certainly above fifty percent. Why spend the money on a longshot? (Btw, "What I've Been Reading" is almost always books I have finished, otherwise why report them?) But when I troll a public library for free books, which I do virtually every day, should I pick up only those books I expect to finish? No, I slide further along the marginal benefit curve and that means I grab lots of books with relatively small but positive expected values.
Yesterday's haul from Arlington Public Library included You Never Call! You Never Write!, and Otherwise Normal People: Inside the Thorny World of Competitive Rose Gardening, neither of which I expect to finish (though I will if I love them). The real question is should I read more on-line book reviews (which are free), or do my own "reviews" by pawing the free book for a few minutes?
What are other reasons not to sample? Are library trips so costly? Are you so confident in social filters relative to your own judgment/pawing? Have blogs outcompeted book pawing? Is the goal of reading simply to share impressions with other people, and there is little uncertainty about what are the hot-selling books?
I say go and grab, go and grab, go and grab.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on September 1, 2007 at 07:24 AM in Books | Permalink
Comments
How long do you spend in the library (or the book store) picking out books? When I go, I find that I can spend an hour reading bits of books, then I usually come home with two or three that I have a fairly good chance of finishing. This way, I don't end up pawing through books at home.
Posted by: Michael at Sep 1, 2007 8:19:54 AM
I try to only read one novel at a time, but I have 3-4 non-fiction books that I read. I just finished Discover Your Inner Economist, BTW, and enjoyed it a good deal.
Posted by: KingM at Sep 1, 2007 10:00:12 AM
For me a "go and grab" trip to the library turns into a $10 fine when I forget to turn them in on time. Lots of library books out at a time + absentmindedness is a recipe for hefty fines. Our library now has an email reminder system, so that helps, but it's still a cost.
Posted by: Matthew at Sep 1, 2007 10:24:48 AM
When I go to the library, I too am overwhelmed by the urge to read them all. I find with a lot of books though (Stumbling on Happiness, Tipping Point, etc) that I don't have the interest to finish them. They say so little. The fact is, every hour I spend on Farewell to Alms is one I can't spend reading papers, or serious methodological books. Books that transfer real power. Since I see a transcendent prize at the end of that path, and mere bliss from sampling culture, I'm afraid this is when you and I will have to part ways.
Posted by: Chi at Sep 1, 2007 11:21:30 AM
Winston Churchill said something to the effect of how beneficial it was to him to at least go page through a few books on his own shelves, even if he was too busy to actually sit down and consume one.
I read 100% of the books that I purposely buy.
If I pick up a book because of a good sale, gift certificate, et cetera, I will eventually read them, but the impetus for buying the book was different, and so they may sit for awhile.
I probably read 20% of my library books to finish. The other 80% I simply "paw." And I simply love bringing home stacks of books even though I know I cannot possibly read them all in the allotted time. My reading areas are piled high with books that I only peruse, but this kind of reading is very beneficial in its own right, much like skimming a magazine for a specific article or nugget of information.
Posted by: Ray G at Sep 1, 2007 12:04:47 PM
To me the problem is if I start too many books without finishing them, it leaves an odd sense of incompleteness.
The is at least partially a conditioned response though, I think. So it certainly is possible that I can overcome it.
However, a good review from a trusted source is the best of all. I think a sensitive reviewer can balance the need to preserve the best bit of the books so that they are not spoiled for the folks who do indeed go and buy it and being able to give the book's basic argument so that the reader's curiosity is piqued.
I am usually far more intrigued by a good book review than I would be if I just flipped casually through the book itself.
Posted by: Battlepanda at Sep 1, 2007 12:30:55 PM
I'm with Matthew up there.
It's too hard to get to the library, find parking (I live in a city where transit is not very good), feed the meter, find a book in the allotted time, then do the same thing all over again for the book returns.
I did go to the library a lot more often back when I lived next door to a very good public library.
Posted by: Rob at Sep 1, 2007 1:05:29 PM
I agree with Tyler; "Go & Grab". These days, almost all county and city public libraries have websites, which makes renewing the original checkout time of books very easy, as well as just checking on the due date of a certain book. It also makes it SO easy to reserve books (such as when a recent book is cited in a blog post).
The ONLY books I buy are those that I KNOW I will read cover-to-cover, or those I will "re-read" for pleasure some day...or those books I need for reference.
Posted by: cas at Sep 1, 2007 1:22:43 PM
Like Mathew, I'm also terrible at returning books, so I end up sampling at used bookstores or special sales. When buying at full-price deals, I randomly sample and conduct careful page checls.
But we buy lots of nonfiction with the intention of only reading the important bits. For example. by page volume, I've read about half our baby books, and feel pretty satisfied. Most of the rest is either repetitive, unnecessary/boring, or can wait til the kid gets older.
*Most* of my casual reading time, though, is in books I'm pretty sure I'll like, though I do tend to get very high toread piles of books that I'm really done with but haven't admitted yet.
Using the library website wouldn't resolve things for me, because I feel bad about keeping things in reserve unless I'm pretty sure nobody else in the library population cares about that book (e.g., Churchill's WW *One* books were pretty guilt-free).
Posted by: Jon at Sep 1, 2007 3:55:18 PM
I really wish I had more time... Or more specifically, the focus, concentration, and energy to make better use of the time that I do have.
Posted by: Aakash at Sep 1, 2007 7:56:21 PM
I don't see why the, fairly modest, price of books should have such a strong effect on Tyler's behavior. I assume Tyler has a fairly high (upper-middle class) and stable income.
An analogy is eating out. For someone who loves food, and has a pretty good income, then stressing out about the price seems a waste of time. If you want to try several appetizers just order a bunch even if you end up "wasting" a lot.
Also isn't Tyler's time a bigger component of the cost here than the $10-$50 a book might cost?
I understand this strategy for a poor grad student, to a degree. But many young, well-educated people seem not to realize that, most likely, they will end up reasonably wealthy. Why deny your current (young, not wealthy) self a minor luxury or two so your future (fairly wealthy) self has a few extra bucks.
Your future self would probably gladly go back in time and spend the money on that book, or trip, etc. And scrimping on things that might increase earning power (like books) or help you find a good mate (travel, which increases status) seem especially penny wise and pound foolish.
I'm guessing Tyler just enjoys libraries and hunting thru the books -- like a rich person who loves bargain-hunting. In which case his behavior makes more sense to me.
Posted by: jim at Sep 1, 2007 8:31:48 PM
I'm also a big fan of grabbing and going but have recently had a change of heart. I found myself grabbing the same few books over and over, hoping that "this time" would be the time I finish them off, renewing it the allowed two times, and returning these books, three months later, unread. Then I realized: what kind of antisocial behavior is this? While I am free to take books from the library as often and for as long as the rules allow - and our library offers a fantastic request service - my library book is bordering on a tragedy of the commons.
Also, I had a baby in early May, so I'm lucky to finish the day's newspaper and a few choice blogs before I'm on diaper duty.
Posted by: Amy at Sep 2, 2007 1:54:45 AM
So I take it you don't share the common libertarian position that public libraries are an abomination?
Here in Oslo there's a very real chance most libraries get closed now, on account of the progress party (populist, anti-immifgration, but a lot of objectivist influence. I don't understand how they can keep the contradictions in their heads, but then again I never understood that for objectivism alone either) - in a local election.
Posted by: Harald Korneliussen at Sep 2, 2007 2:38:41 AM
Harald Korneliussen: Tyler is forced to pay for the libraries anyway, so why not use them? It's not like he can say no... In fact if the state mandated that every woman I wanted to have sex with had to comply, I would be a very busy man. But you know what? I think that'd be a bad and immoral policy. Thus, I don't really buy the underlying assumption of your post.
Nor that the progress party is libertarians in any way, which is a rather silly argument. How could any leading party in a country so close to Soviet Russia as Norway be considered libertarians? I'm from Sweden and I visit Norway often.
Posted by: Erik at Sep 2, 2007 4:37:05 AM
I have to disagree with jim's analysis. To me, the question comes down to, why pay $10-$50 for an asset that depreciates rapidly (I've rarely sold a used book for more than $5, even if it's never been read, and rarely get as much pleasure out of a second reading than a first reading), when I can get nearly the entire benefit at almost zero cost. I lack only the ability to lend the book to friends. Further, I reduce my use of another very limited quantity: my bookshelf space at home.
The time spent browsing a library ought not be considered a pure cost, anyway: it gives me a chance to flip through the book and other shelved with it to get a better preview of whether I'll enjoy the book than I'd get looking. By spending that little time at a library up-front, I can save myself a few hours of reading later. Tyler's shotgun strategy changes that equation slightly by taking more risks, but he seems less willing than I am to sit down and read a dull book from cover to cover simply because he has it on hand.
There is also a social aspect to libraries in your interaction with other patrons and librarians. You can see what others are reading, ask for recommendations, and generally enjoy the outing. This is of course also true of bookstores, but I feel less free to sit and read a book that I'm not sure about in a bookstore than I am in a library.
That said, while I frequently get a dozen books at a time from the I library, I rarely start more than one or two books at a time (research use aside). It's pure personal preference, and I can see the virtue of doing so, but I just prefer to commit to one or two. It simplifies things for me. If I'm not in the mood for whatever I'm reading at the moment, I usually go online or pick up a magazine.
The question of spending your time reading online reviews versus on-your-own reviews does not entirely make sense to me: both have different purposes. The first is to tell me whether I am likely to find the book interesting. The second is to tell me whether I will find the writing style unbearable. You should do both.
Posted by: Dolohov at Sep 2, 2007 12:22:50 PM
The biggest cost of books is the time to acquire and read them. How to know whether reading any particular book will be worth it to you?
Even when someone prominent who thinks like I do recommends some book I'm left wondering whether the recommendation is aimed at my level of knowledge in an area of interest or for the more general public.
Such a large torrent of books gets published that just sorting thru them looking for gems takes a lot of time. I tend to go for just reading on the web to look for content to write posts about. It has the added advantage that I link to material that everyone else can discuss because it is a click away.
Posted by: Randall Parker at Sep 2, 2007 4:29:19 PM
"In fact if the state mandated that every woman I wanted to have sex with had to comply, I would be a very busy man."
-- Wow. It isn't often that you hear that kind of admission. As long as you can blame government for it, you would go around raping women. And we usually think that it is only soldiers in a particularly bloody time of war or revolution that do this.
In fact, your typical libertarian academic will do it so long as he can blame Uncle Sam, huh.
Posted by: liberty at Sep 2, 2007 11:01:34 PM
liberty-
i dont think it counts as rape if its legal. rhetorical grandstanding to vindicate your political identity of self-righteous indignation coupled w/ received pc morality do not constitute an effective critique of erik. emotional ad hominem attacks are best saved for dense dunces like yourself. have a nice day.
Posted by: libertysinane at Sep 2, 2007 11:37:34 PM
libertysinane: Yes, it counts, and for once I agree with mr. liberty.
Erik the swede: Comparing Norway to Soviet Russia is an offense to the victims of the soviet system. No, having to pay tax for something you don't personally approve of is not the same as being raped, or being put in a prison camp.
Taxation is not popular, but only a few fringe freaks thinks a democratically enacted tax is illegitimate. When the foremost political party that proposes this (DLF?) rises above say 1% of the votes, I'll bother defending against that charge.
Posted by: Harald Korneliussen at Sep 3, 2007 5:02:20 AM
The paw strategy is great and has another benefit so far unmentioned. Many books have interesting ideas for "essay length," but seem to have been written to make the text "book length." I stop reading when they become redundant after 5-100 pages.
Posted by: norm at Sep 3, 2007 3:15:40 PM
libertysinane,
Then, I suppose the holocaust didn't involve murder, either, because it was legal for the guards to kill the Jews?
How does government being involve actually make these things morally O.K. to you and Erik? I don't get it. Haven't we learned from the past at all-- that government isn't always right? That just because the state sanctions something doesn't make it morally right?
And further, that just because the government makes something legal, that we still have a moral obligation to follow our own moral code.
Posted by: liberty at Sep 3, 2007 7:23:52 PM
The cost of sampling books is largely emotional. If I pick up a book I do it because I expect to enjoy it, and if I end up not liking the book - it's a disappointment.
I find that I no longer browse much in the bookstores or the library. The memory of disappointment of the last time I spent 2.5hrs in B&N and haven't found anything remotely interesting keeps me from trying again.
The odds of finding a book I will enjoy are very low by physically browsing the shelves, compared to surfing the Amazon.com (with it's reviews and lists).
Posted by: janya at Sep 4, 2007 4:11:45 PM
The only problem I see in pawing books is that you may miss out on a book that gets great late in the book. In high school I had to do a book report on Steppenwolf by Hesse. The first 75 pages were among the worst I ever had to read in my life. The rest of the book was transcendent. Had I used Tyler's method I would never have worked thru the book to the great part. So now I try to read a minimum of half of a book I pick up not wanting to miss another Steppenwolf. And librarys are great. I would have to throw away too many books for lack of space if I had to buy all the books I read.
Posted by: Murphy at Sep 5, 2007 11:09:33 AM
For those complaining of fines, try reminder services like Library Elf, email your librarians to suggest better ways to avoid the hassle of trivial fees, or just encourage them to eliminate late fees completely. In the time it takes to post a comment here you could email the library director and say "Hey, I wish using the library was as easy at using Netflix."
Libraries offer lots of free (or, to be dismal, "already paid for as part of the commons") services aside from book check out. Start to develop a relationship with your librarians and they can help you find better things more consistently. They'd welcome a conversation about making the library more useful to you. A small investment of time on your part can set in motion hours of work from the librarians to give you better services. It's good bang for your buck.
Posted by: J. Nadal at Sep 6, 2007 6:48:35 AM
Hi! i buy a new house, I hope to find a regular, good interior design室內設計. services company, I will let my new home beautiful, warm.
Posted by: Tony at Dec 28, 2007 7:59:10 PM
